Ashar Ignilys
06-16-1241( The Day Time Dungeon Incident Occured)
"You are all well, Sir Ashar." Doctor Ridge said as he pulled back his hand. "It was given as it was Lady Elaina who treated you." He turned his chair toward the desk and began writing something down.
I look down at myself, my hand going to my side where I took the blow. Even though I didn't feel a pang of pain, Lady Elaina insisted I go and get checked.
I shifted slightly on the stool.
"I am sorry for bothering you at such a busy time," I said with a smile of appreciation.
"It's fine. I am quite free," Ridge replied without looking up. "The few who died during the chaos remain dead, while those who were badly injured, even those who lost limbs, were completely healed by that 'white' light. Now, people are coming just to make sure they are actually fine, seeking peace of mind after everything they went through."
His words settled quietly in the room.
A miracle. That was the only word for it.
The number of dead did not exceed single digits. Considering the scale of the catastrophe, that alone was a feat.
Yet numbers had a cruel habit of pretending loss could be measured.
People still died, and we… lost Lady Valka.
Survival was a feat, but for a knight, any number above zero was a scar upon his honor… and a man I know who bears that honor is drowning in those scars.
"I see," I said, clearing the tightness in my throat. "Did you check the young lord?"
Ridge paused his writing, his eyes still fixed on the paper. "... I did. Physically, he seems fine. But I am more worried about his mental state. He hardly said a word during the entire checkup."
Doctor Ridge was among the few who knew about Lady Valka's absence. Unlike the priest at the church, the Fors family placed a great deal of trust in him.
I straightened slightly.
"I am sure young lord will jump back from that as long as he is physically fit."
Those words were not offered out of courtesy.
They were simply what I believed.
… I had to believe it. I had to believe the young lord was as unbreakable as the legacy he carried.
He is the spark we are all circling, the one who carries the weight of a future he didn't ask for.
"I don't think we need to worry about his resilience," Ridge said, finally turning back to me with a reassuring smile. "The young lord is a lot tougher than Sir Ashar may realize. He survived his blood vessels bursting and his mana veins forming and tearing when he first awakened. Truthfully, we were lucky. Among the vast number of veins he possessed, only a few tore apart. Otherwise, it could have taken us days to bind them all back together."
I heard about that when we arrived after the kidnapping incident. The young lord surviving proves his resilience, but the people who tended to him were even more outstanding. Calem maintained the young lord's condition, but it was Ridge who healed his blood vessels. Most unbelievable was that he was able to heal mana veins, which do not exist physically.
Captain once mentioned something curious.
Even before the young lord was born, Doctor Ridge had been chosen to tend to him.
The finest physicians had quietly gathered from distant lands in secret. Specialists, scholars, masters of their craft. Each one entrusted with a single purpose.
To train one man.
To ensure that when the time came, the heir of the Fors family would never lack the best care the world could offer.
Even so.
Training alone could not produce results like this.
Skill could be taught.
Judgment, instinct, and the calm needed to touch something as delicate as the mana's veins were another matter entirely.
My gaze moved to Ridge as he wrote calmly at his desk.
So this is the man who was chosen to stand between life and death for the young lord.
"Thank you for everything you are doing for young lord." The words left me before I thought much about them. My head lowered slightly in respect.
If someone saw me now, they would probably say I was acting like Captain.
Doctor Ridge paused his writing.
"Please, Sir Ashar." He turned his chair toward me. "I should be the one saying this. Thank you for everything you and your peers have done for this town."
He mirrored the gesture, dipping his head in return.
For a brief moment the room felt strangely quiet.
I smiled faintly and straightened.
"I think I should take my leave now, I have bothered you enough for one day."
"Please do not forget this."
He reached to the side and handed me a small packet wrapped neatly in paper.
"These are some supplements for your bones."
"Ah, thank you."
I reached for the pouch at my belt, my fingers searching for coins, but Ridge immediately raised his hand to stop me.
"The Fors family is footing the bill today," he said, his expression softening just a fraction. "For everyone in the barony."
A quiet warmth settled somewhere in my chest, chasing away the chill of the infirmary. I tucked the medicine into my tunic, my heart feeling a little lighter than it had when I walked in.
Of course. They wouldn't have it any other way.
Generous to a fault, even when their own world is fracturing.
I said my goodbyes and stepped out of the clinic into the cool air of the evening.
It was already dark, and the stars were out, casting a glow over the town. Despite everything that had transpired during the day, it was an unnervingly beautiful night. The constellations twinkled with a clarity that felt almost mocking, they seemed indifferent to the mayhem that had unfolded beneath them.
For a moment I simply stood there.
It has been a while since I looked at the night like this.
A faint memory of the younger days resurfaced.
Back then I would step out into the manor lawn on nights like these. The air would be cool, the grass damp with evening dew. A violin in my hands, a glass of mocktail resting on the small table nearby.
Music drifting beneath the stars.
Quiet nights that seemed endless.
"I am telling the truth!"
A frantic voice broke through my wandering thoughts. I looked over to see a group of soldiers huddled near a storefront, one of them gesturing wildly at the stone walls around them.
"This building was crushed down by a large darkkin!" one of them said quickly, the words tumbling out in a single breath. " But after that bright light, it just stood there like nothing ever touched it!"
The others stared at him with disbelief.
I watched them for a moment.
No surprise there.
As Lady Serena explained to us after it was all over, the Young Lord had interfered with Cause and Effect itself. If the cause is vanished, then the result never existed.
Destroyed buildings returned to their original form.
People standing on the edge of death pulled back to life.
That power is terrifying. To undo what has already been done is to play with the threads of fate itself.
I resumed walking.
The barracks were not far, and the familiar structure soon came into view under the dim lantern light.
A familiar silhouette was already walking towards the front doors, dressed in sweat stained clothes and gripping a wooden practice sword.
"Blake," I called out.
He stopped and turned toward me. His face was a mask of indifference, the same as it always was, though the tension in his shoulders told a different story.
"Were you practicing?" I asked, my voice softening. "You should take it easy after everything that happened today."
"...I don't have time to rest," he replied, his voice low and jagged. "Especially not after today."
His gaze drifted away from me, fixing on the distant silhouette of the manor. There was an intensity in his eyes that surpassed his usual focus. It was a fierce, burning hunger for strength that seemed to shake the air between us.
I see.
"I guess we all need a method to cope with everything," I said, offering a small smile. "Sorry if I spoke out of line."
Blake shook his head slightly, a minimal movement that signaled he wasn't offended.
"... It is fine."
His eyes moved back to me.
"How is your body?"
I felt a spark of surprise at the question. It was rare for Blake to show even a little bit of interest in the others.
"I am all healed," I said, lightly patting my side where I took the blow from the Darkkin. "I really need to thank Lady Elaina again when I see her."
Blake gave a short, expressionless nod and began walking inside.
I fell into step beside him.
"Do you want to have dinner together?" I suggested. "I can ask the Captain and the others to join us."
Blake gave another small nod, his eyes still fixed somewhere far ahead of us.
"Aifa is not here."
His voice remained calm.
"She went to the manor to check on the young lord."
She had grown quite close to him lately.
Most likely because of the archery lessons she gave him. Those long afternoons in the training yard, correcting his stance, guiding his hands, they forged a bond that none of the rest of us quite share.
It is easy to grow attached to someone like him.
"...And the Captain did not look very well," Blake added quietly, his face softening just a little with concern.
It wasn't surprising. The weight of the day was a physical thing, pressing down on all of us, but for the one leading the charge, it must have been suffocating.
"I will check on him," I promised.
Blake gave a short nod of understanding before we parted ways. He headed toward the showers to wash away, while I began the climb toward the third floor where our private quarters were located. The corridor was quiet, lit only by a few lanterns that cast long shadows across the wooden floor.
I stopped before the captain's door and knocked lightly.
"It is open," a low, tired voice drifted from inside. It sounded like someone speaking from the bottom of a deep well.
I pushed the door open and stopped just inside the threshold.
The sight inside made my chest tighten.
I had seen the Captain in the heat of battle and in the formal rigidity of the nobility, but I had never seen him like this.
The sword lying carelessly on the bed caught my attention first, a weapon he usually treated with care lay abandoned and lonesome on the rumpled bedsheets.
I looked toward the desk where he sat slumped in his chair. His long hair, which was always tied back with such meticulous neatness, was loose and disheveled, falling in tangled curtains that obscured most of his face. He leaned heavily against the table, a half-filled glass clutched in his hand. Beside him sat a bottle of Tsipouro. It was the same bottle Lady Valka had gifted each of us on the young lord's birthday.
One of the strongest and best alcohol in existence, meant for celebration…I never imagined I would see him open it.
"Ashar..." His words were slow, heavy with a fatigue that went far deeper than his physical exhaustion. He glanced at me through the strands of his hair, his eyes bloodshot and weary. "How are your injuries?"
"I-it's all good," I stammered, forcing a smile that felt hard to maintain. "The doctor cleared me."
"Take tomorrow to rest. Tell Blake to do the same," he commanded. Even with the alcohol and the exhaustion, he didn't lose his precision and decision making capabilities. "The young lord won't be leaving the manor anytime soon. Tell Aifa to stay with him. He seems comfortable around her."
He finished the order and raised the glass to his lips in one fluid motion swallowing it as if it were water.
"I will do so," I said, offering a nod of acknowledgement. I swallowed hard, the dry lump in my throat making it difficult to find my voice. "Captain, the rest of us are planning to have dinner together. Would you like to join us?"
"Thank you for asking, but I am good," he replied. His voice was a ghostly rasp. He reached for the bottle and poured himself another glass without hesitation.
Seeing him like this, the pillar of our unit crumbling in this way…
My hands clenched on their own.
"Captain!" I called out, taking a bold step into the room, unable to hold back. "I understand today has taken a toll on all of us. But drowning yourself like this is not the answer. If you need to talk, then I am—"
His fist struck the table, cutting me off like a slap to the face.
"A toll on us?" He spoke the words as if they were poison. The pain and anger in his voice rose with every syllable. "It would have been fine if it was us. But..."
He buried his face in his hands, his fingers digging into his scalp as if trying to hold his skull together.
"We were useless! We failed to protect our lady! Death would have been a kindness compared to this shame."
"Captain..."
The word died in my throat as my eyes moved down.
Pointless.
What can I even say here?
I wanted to tell him that no one could have seen it coming. The Darkkins, The sky titans, The Unending Demon.
A storm that swallowed everything before anyone could react.
It was not our fault.
The words formed clearly in my mind.
Yet they refused to leave my lips.
Because deep down, I knew how they would sound: Hollow excuses. They were shields made of paper against our failures.
My teeth pressed against each other as bitterness rose within me. There was no comfort I could offer that wouldn't sound like a lie.
"You better say your goodbyes while you have the chance…"
Captain's voice came out low as he pulled his hands away from his face and turned toward me. His eyes remained hidden behind the loose strands of his hair.
"Goodbyes?" I looked back at him confused.
"After such a blunder, we will be called back at a moment's notice," he explained, his voice devoid of its usual command. "Say what you want to say to the young lord while you still have the chance."
Right... We failed as members of the 'Aegis', the shield that was never supposed to crack. To fail this spectacularly meant our time here was over. Being stripped of our knighthood would be the most merciful end we could hope for.
My throat felt dry.
To be sent away now, when the young lord needs us most is worse than any punishment.
"When the order of return comes, go back with the other five," the Captain said, appearing a little more sober than he had moments ago. "You will lead them." His composure returning.
"Me lead them? What about you?" I asked, a cold knot of dread tightening in my stomach. The way he spoke sounded far too much like a final arrangement.
"I have taken full responsibility for this in the report I sent," he replied, his voice flat and drained of emotion. "I have relinquished my knighthood and given up my succession rights to the Ironhart family. I will accept any other punishment I am given... Then I will stay here and serve Fors family as a normal soldier."
"Captain!!! How is that fair to you?!"
The words burst out of me before I could restrain them.
He is throwing away his name, his future, his very identity to protect us… The responsibility belongs to all of us.
"It doesn't matter." His reply came without hesitation. "It is too late. I have made my decision. Just be ready when the time comes… You may leave for now."
The finality in his tone left no room to argue.
He didn't look at me. He didn't need to. The dismissal was like building a wall between us. I wanted to scream, to argue, to tell him that no leader should have to bleed alone for a wound we all sustained. But as I watched him swallow another glass. Guilt settled over me from my own helplessness.
I turned toward the door, my hand gripping the cold metal of the door handle. I paused for a heartbeat, my back still turned to him.
"Captain… I… I was also there."
My grip tightened slightly.
"I will take my share of punishment myself when I return. I don't plan on letting you carry my portion of this shame."
With that, I closed the door, but I heard the Captain's words loud and clear.
"...Do as you please."
I stood in the dim light of the corridor, the silence of the barracks pressing in on me from all sides. The world had been saved by a miracle, yet here, it felt as though we were all just waiting for the final curtain to fall.